Michael Nania lists the New York Jets’ best and worst players against the Kansas City Chiefs, and stacks up the roster according to each player’s impact on the team’s performance to date.
Studs and duds + season-long roster rankings:
Week 2 vs. San Francisco 49ers
Each week this season, I will be laying out my picks for the Jets’ best and worst-performing players from their previous game – but with a twist. Each player listed as a “stud” will receive a positive score ranging from 1 (solid) to 5 (dominant) based on their impact level, while each player listed as a “dud” will receive a negative score ranging from -1 (below average) to -5 (horrendous). The sum of all players’ scores will be equal to the Jets’ scoring margin from the game.
As the season progresses, we will get an increasingly good look at each player’s contribution to the team’s success (or lack thereof) up to that point.
Here are my studs and duds from the Jets’ 35-9 loss to the Chiefs. The Jets lost by 26 points, so the scores below add up to -26.
At the end of the piece is a ranking of the season-long scores for each player, showcasing the team’s most valuable and most detrimental players on the year.
Duds
Bryce Huff: -1
Huff remains a promising young piece, but this was a down game for him. The rookie led Jets edge rushers with a career-high 46 defensive snaps, participating in a career-high 68.6% of the defensive plays, but he could not pick up a single pressure over 26 pass-rush snaps. He did have a nice play in which he chased Le’Veon Bell out of bounds in the flat short of the first down marker.
La’Mical Perine: -1
Perine is not showing much of anything with the ball in his hands. Against the Chiefs, he was credited with zero broken tackles over eight rush attempts and two receptions, while his average of 2.0 yards after contact per carry ranked 28th among 38 qualified running backs in Week 8. His vision and decision-making as a rusher have been very suspect, as broken down by Joe Blewett in his latest film review.
Braxton Berrios: -2
Berrios grabbed 8-of-11 targets for a measly 34 yards (3.1 per target) and three first downs (27.3%). He had a big third-down drop on a nice scrambling throw by Sam Darnold and could not produce much after the catch with a hefty diet of screen plays and underneath throws.
Pierre Desir: -2
Desir allowed 5-of-7 passing in his direction for 77 yards and four first downs in yet another subpar performance.
Chris Herndon: -3
Over 18 routes run, Herndon managed to draw just one target – a three-yard catch that he fumbled away.
Connor McGovern: -3
McGovern was knocked with allowing two pressures (poor for a center, a position where the average starter allows slightly less than one per game) and played a part in a few more with shaky blitz pickup and recognition skills. He also appeared to be the biggest culprit in a lackluster run game that could not muster a single rush for double-digit yards.
Eight games in, McGovern has been a bona fide free agency disappointment. The Jets badly need a turnaround from him in the second half.
Blessuan Austin: -5
Austin allowed 9-of-12 passing in his direction for 99 yards and two touchdowns. Demarcus Robinson toasted Austin for a 26-yard score late in the third quarter, and just a few minutes later, Tyreek Hill smoked Austin for a 41-yard house call.
Of the three incompletions in Austin’s direction, two were drops by Mecole Hardman that would have combined for at least 20 more yards. Austin also added another missed tackle to his record and now ranks third among cornerbacks with 10 whiffs this season.
Ashtyn Davis: -5
Davis deserves plenty of slack – he was making his starting debut against arguably the most well-oiled machine of a passing attack in the NFL – but this was a bad outing. He took a bad angle on a Hardman jet sweep to allow a 30-yard touchdown, bit hard on an outside sell by Hill to allow a 36-yard touchdown over the middle, and failed to get over in time to stop Hill short of the goal line on the 41-yard touchdown against Austin.
Jeff Smith: -5
Smith caught 3-of-9 targets for 29 yards and two first downs. Most notably, Smith was locked down by Beshaud Breeland on a slant route, hanging Darnold out to dry as Breeland got two hands on the ball for a should-be interception. Smith also dropped a slant route for what would have been a first down and failed to hook up with Darnold on two deep shots up the sideline.
In addition, Smith had a poor block attempt in which he allowed Tyrann Mathieu to tackle Berrios for a six-yard loss on a jet sweep play.
Alex Lewis: -5
Lewis allowed four pressures, including two nasty hits on Darnold by Chris Jones within the Jets’ first three passing plays. Lewis’ ugly start prompted the Jets to use a quick-release passing game to mitigate the interior pressure, which in turn led to an afternoon completely devoid of explosive passing plays. Lewis was also poor in the run game, often failing to provide help to McGovern before hitting the second level.
Avery Williamson: -5
In his final game as a Jet, Williamson allowed 13-of-13 passing on targets in his direction for 190 yards, two touchdowns, and nine first downs. It can hardly get worse than that.
Williamson currently leads all linebackers with 404 yards allowed in coverage. Credit to Joe Douglas for turning this level of production into a fifth-round pick.
Studs
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